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Conservationists in Los Angeles aim to buy a historic plot of land in Laurel Canyon

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Conservationists in Los Angeles have launched a campaign to buy a plot of land that was a key part of the Laurel Canyon music scene.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WHO NEEDS THE PEACE CORPS?")

THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION: (Singing) Every town must have a place where phony hippies meet. Psychedelic dungeons popping up on every street.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

That's Frank Zappa, once the owner of a large log cabin that sits on the lush green, nearly 2-1/2-acre parcel known as Laurel Spring. In the 1960s, that cabin was a counterculture crash pad.

ALISON SIMARD: Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Joni Mitchell, many more would come to this property to play music with Frank Zappa, hang out in the stream on the property and climb the trees.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "(I CAN'T GET NO) SATISFACTION")

THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) I can't get no satisfaction.

MARTÍNEZ: Alison Simard is with Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife, or CLAW, one of the organizations working to raise $1 million to buy the land. They want to keep development off of this historic plot and turn it into a park.

FADEL: The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, a local public agency that works to preserve open space, would manage the land. The agency's chief ecologist, Paul Edelman, says the parcel would provide a key thoroughfare for wildlife in the area. And he says the stream there flows year round, making it an essential water source.

PAUL EDELMAN: The fact that it is not close to other springs makes it important so that animals don't have to travel as far and take as many risks to get permanent water.

MARTÍNEZ: Laurel Spring's property owner has given conservationists until April 20 to come up with the money, but so far the campaign has raised a little less than $32,000.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BIG YELLOW TAXI")

JONI MITCHELL: (Singing) Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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